Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are valuable tools for many marine applications. These machines can perform operations that may be dangerous, repetitive, difficult, or even impossible for human divers. Existing AUVs can be expensive, cumbersome, and inflexible in functionality. They can be hard to acquire, difficult to deploy, inadaptable for dynamic needs, and too complex for non-experts to operate and maintain. As a result, the use of AUVs for existing marine applications may be limited.
A conventional way to actuate an AUV includes the use of three individual thrusters for the vertical, starboard and port actuation, respectively.